Nuworld: Claiming Tara

by Fitzgerald, Laurie

  “I suggest you let me look for her when we leave tomorrow. We know she headed south, and she’ll probably pass through one of the towns to restock. I’ll be able to find her.”

  “Ah, but will you be able to bring her back?”

  “Son, you’re going to have to do that. You’ve made a terrible mistake, and she’ll not forgive you easily. I’ll find her for you, but you’ll have to do the convincing.”

  Patha came out of the room, and Syra and Torgo tried to look as if they hadn’t been eavesdropping. Patha still seemed uninterested in them, but he paused and turned to address them before he reached the stairs. “Syra, I guess you should come with me, and I’ll take you back to your papa. There’s no reason for you to stay here.” He disappeared down the stairs.

  “Great, more time alone with my papa,” Syra groaned. “I wish I went with her. This isn’t fair.” She stamped her foot on the ground before following Patha.

  They didn’t leave right away, however. Hilda insisted Patha and Reena stay for supper, as it was about ready. Darius hobbled downstairs with his wrapped foot and endured the looks his mama gave him as she set the table.

  She finally started to cry over the loss of her grandbabies and the woman who had taken them. Torgo didn’t want to hear his brother yell at his mama, so he slipped out into the backyard. His brother had made his mama cry one too many times, and it was more than he wanted to hear right now.

  When Syra saw the opportunity, she followed him.

  “You know, you’re complaining that you have to leave, and I wish I didn’t have to stay.” Torgo leaned against the shed staring at the star-filled sky. He switched his gaze to her as she approached him.

  “Is this yours?” Syra ran her hand over his bike.

  “Yeah, and it was Tara who taught me to ride.”

  “That’s why I was here, to earn money to buy my first bike.”

  The two were silent then Syra had an idea. It was really awful, and she didn’t want Torgo to get the wrong impression if she brought it up. He’d started shining his handlebars with his shirt. His blond hair was a mass of tousled curls and his gray eyes were lighter, not as deadly as his older brother’s. He’d be nice to have as a boyfriend, she decided.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way or anything,” she began and looked back toward the house to make sure no one else had come out. “Why don’t we go find her ourselves?”

  “What?” Torgo whispered the word. “There’s no way we would get out of Gothman. Both of us together don’t have half the skills Tara has.”

  “It’s not like they are going to hurt us if they catch us. It would be an adventure, and I’m going to be bored to death if I have to spend a couple cycles alone with my papa.” Syra looked at Torgo slyly. “Are you scared?”

  “Of course not!” he declared. “I’m just not going to take off running without a plan. Let me think about it. We also shouldn’t leave before supper.”

  “Can you get out of the house tonight?” Her mind was already scheming.

  “I guess so.”

  “I’ll have to leave after we eat with Patha and Reena. You’ll leave half an hour after we do and meet me at the edge of the clan site, on the west side. We’ll be out of Gothman before anyone missed us. I’m sure of it with the speed this bike probably has. I bet it takes the rough terrain a lot better than a Runner bike.” She smiled at him to see what he thought.

  Torgo didn’t have a better plan. The thought of listening to his brother scream and yell at everyone because he’d made a mess out of his life sounded worse than running away. He nodded and headed toward the house. There was no way he would back out or give her any indication, but he was scared to death to take off on his own. He’d never been outside Gothman territory, and the stories he’d heard didn’t make him want to leave.

  Syra left with Patha and Reena and headed back to the Runner’s camp. She didn’t speak to either of them, but then she never did. They were so old and never understood anything she talked about. Instead of sulking however, she made a mental list of things she would need. She walked through her trailer with her bag that already had her clothes and landlink in it. Quite convenient, she thought.

  “Ah, there you are, my girl,” Balbo said, as Syra entered their trailer. “Hard to believe your papa missed you when you were gone far less than a quarter-cycle.”

  “No one to show you how you are always wrong?” Syra rolled her eyes at her papa, but found herself smiling. She guessed as far as papas went she had a pretty good one, for the most part.

  “I felt lost without anyone to argue with.” Her papa returned her smile and reached to pull at her headscarf.

  She ducked past him and headed for her room. Once in there she began

  pacing as four walls closed in around her. Somehow she needed to get food, and enough for both of them for at least several days.

  “Syra, I’ll be back shortly.”

  “Okay, Papa.” This was perfect.

  In the kitchen, she took things she thought wouldn’t be missed immediately if her papa were to look. She did most of the cooking, so she hoped he didn’t know what was there. She filled a bag with food, grabbed her bag of clothes, and left the trailer.

  Torgo was on the west side of the clan when she got there, looking nervous as he sat on his bike. He had side bags into which she stuffed her belongings. Then she climbed on behind him. Her heart leaped as she inched her legs along his and slowly moved her hands around his waist.

  “I thought you’d never get here.” His bike rumbled noisily as he left the clan site.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “THIS ISN’T on the map.” Tara tapped from screen to

  screen on her landlink as she spoke aloud to herself. She’d driven all night and halfway through the next day. The babies were grouchy and so was she.

  Runners seldom travelled into land close to Southland. They knew of scattered towns, but that was it. All morning she’d been traveling through uncharted land, having already left the Freelands. The River People lived near the border but they weren’t an organized government and had no officially claimed land. Now a wide river blocked her path.

  The river flowed from the west and curved in front of her, heading south beyond her ability to see. Her only choice was to travel alongside it. There was nowhere to cross. She added the river to her landlink map, taking it upon herself to chart the area.

  After travelling along the river’s edge until the sun was on her back, Tara spotted a large hauling watermobile moored at a small port. Several buildings, their walls warped wood that was well baked by the sun, lined the edge of the river. She parked alongside the nearest building.

  Tara put Andru into the back carrier then shrugged into the shoulder straps. She lifted Ana in her arms, and the three walked toward the hauling watermobile. A large man ambled off the dock and tossed several bags onto the ground. He didn’t look at her until she cleared her throat.

  “Where does this watermobile go?”

  “South all the way to the border. If you have good paper.” The man spoke with the distinguishable River People accent. He took a good look at Tara and her babies. “Been travelin’ a while, have you?”

  “Long enough. How much paper?”

  “Six dorsels a person, no matter their age.” He eyed the babies.

  “I have gold.”

  “Change it over at the building. That way.” The large man rubbed his hand over his unshaven face and studied Tara. He couldn’t quite figure out her accent but knew he’d heard it before. She’d been traveling awhile…and so pretty…odd she didn’t have a man with her. Those two babies would turn most men away, but with her looks…he scratched his whiskers some more. How did he know that accent?

  Tara spotted the building, it being the one closest to the dock, where the large man had directed her. She pushed her way inside. It was warmer in the building than it had been outside.

  “I need dorsels,” Tara said, dropping several pieces of gold on the coun
ter in front of a small wiry man, who straightened where he’d been leaning when she entered.

  He handed her a stack of paper and she studied it, not familiar with the currency. The sheets were thin, dyed red, and there was a numeral two in each corner of the rectangular shape. She counted the papers by two and came up with twenty.

  “Are you sure this is right?” She only knew what she’d heard around the fires. River People were always out to make the better end of a deal.

  The man grunted and handed her three more pieces of paper.

  “How much to haul a groundmobile and bike?”

  “Ten apiece.”

  “How far will you take me?”

  “To the border. The hauling watermobile don’t go past the border.” The wiry man tapped the counter with a bony finger. “You pay to come back, too.”

  “And meals? They’re included with this outrageous price, I assume?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know that the cook will be fixing food they can eat.” He pointed his long finger at the babies.

  Tara took the dorsels. She returned to the large unshaven man now loading bags onto the hauling watermobile.

  “Where you heading?” He took her money and rubbed his whiskers as he stared at the groundmobile and bike Tara had just paid to have loaded.

  “South.”

  “There’s a lot to see down that way.”

  “Have you been south of the border?” Tara wouldn’t mind some good stories, and as unappealing as this man was, he was the first adult she’d spoken to since leaving Gothman.

  Taffley studied the young woman and her babies. She was quite brown from the sun and in dire need of a shower. Her hair was stringy from sweat, and her dress clung to her thin body. She was beautiful, though. In fact, she was quite sexy. He liked dirty women.

  He didn’t entertain too much hope of catching her eye. Women like her seldom had much of an interest in men like him. But there was something off with her. Taffley met all kinds of people on his hauling watermobile. Be them good or bad by nature, he never turned away paper. It was all the same no matter how stained the hand it came from. He scrubbed his jaw and gave his brain a good workout trying to learn where this woman was from without asking. Taffley never had to ask—and he was seldom wrong.

  His thoughts returned to her accent. It bothered him when he wasn’t immediately able to tell what race a person was. You knew a lot about a person when you knew where they were from and what their people were. Then he noticed a necklace around her neck. It was a circle with a very nice looking ruby in the middle of it.

  “Yeah, I’ve been to a town or two in Southland.” He looked at the necklace one more time and it hit him harder than if his watermobile had banked itself. Panic ransacked his entire body. “Go on aboard. Take the cabin on the left side in the hall.” Taffley hurried away, afraid his fear would register in his words.

  Runners could smell fear.

  The man who owned the hauling watermobile seemed nervous about something, but Tara was too worn out to care. She walked onto the watermobile and down a hall with several doors on each side. The farthest door on the left was slightly open. She peeked in and saw a bed sprawled in one corner. A table with two chairs pushed under it filled the other corner. An old dresser stood next to the door. One half-open window provided dim light that barely blanketed the wooden floor and walls. She left her bags in the room and carried her children out to watch the large man bring her groundmobile and bike on board.

  Taffley drove the groundmobile with attached trailer up a large plank and parked them on the back of his watermobile. His hands shook as he worked. That pretty little lady he’d been drooling over was a Runner. He recognized the symbol of the Blood Circle clan. The motorcycle matched the clan as well. The most dangerous race in the world. That clan called themselves that because they didn’t hesitate to draw blood. He’d heard all the stories.

  Why was she dressed like that? Runners didn’t travel alone. For some reason, she didn’t want anyone to know who she was. This bothered him even more. No doubt about it, she was going to be trouble for him.

  He looked at Tara and walked onto the dock, muttering to himself. He didn’t need trouble on his hauling watermobile. This was his only means of getting paper— dorsels always preferred but if a deal was to be made, well he owned the hauling watermobile. That always put him at the better end of any bargaining. But with a Runner on board. Hell be doomed! This would be trouble for sure.

  A few moments later, he entered the wooden purchasing and exchange building. “Saffle, d’you see that lady that come this way with those babies?” Taffley spoke to the wiry man.

  “Yeah, she had gold.”

  “She’s a Runner.”

  “Taffley, you’re water-logged for sure. She wasn’t dressed like no Runner.”

  “I tell you she’s a Runner. I know that accent, and she had the sign of the Blood Circle clan around her neck.” He scratched his jaw and turned to look at his ferry.

  Saffle laughed. “I never heard you to complain a pretty lady’s on your hauling watermobile. Did you hear me? I said she had gold. Runners don’t have money. They want to barter their services, more exact their protection. Only thing I needs protected from is them,” he finished, and laughed some more.

  “I knew that accent.” Taffley ignored Saffle’s laughter and continued staring out the open door toward his watermobile. “But when I saw that necklace. Now you tell me right now who would wear the symbol for the Blood Circle clan around their neck if they weren’t no Runner? Tell me that now.”

  “If what you say’s true, you’ve a problem on your hands.” Saffle pulled a piece of paper from under his desk. “This came through with all the mail today. They’ve been passing ‘em out, from what I hear.”

  Taffley turned from the door and took a wrinkled piece of paper from Saffle’s bony hand. His face fell as he looked at the contents on the paper. The top of the page said REWARD and a description followed. Oddly enough, it was Gothman writing, and the reward was Gothman currency. It was large: ten thousand Gothman gold coins offered for the whereabouts or return of a lady and two babies. The woman was described as a Runner, but it was said she might not appear in Runner clothing. The babies were twins, a boy and a girl, six cycles old.

  “That’s a lot of money.” Taffley scratched his beard.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to take her to the border. She’s a Runner. I’m not going to cross her.” Taffley smiled. “You put a wire through and let them know our destination and where they can pick her up. You say I expect payment in full before I turn her over.”

  Inside her room, Tara pushed the table in front of the door and began exploring. She found a small, connecting bathing room—with only one door. She was thrilled that she wouldn’t have to share bath water with another passenger.

  Fatigue was taking over, so she decided to wash herself and the babies. Perhaps a cool bath and clean clothes would revive her. She left her laser on the bathroom counter and began filling the tub.

  The children splashed the water as Tara scrubbed the dirt and grime from all of them. She then soaked while the twins’ delighted squeals as they played helped relax her.

  Suddenly, the water in the tub splashed to one side and her babies slid into her. She grabbed them and held on as the hauling watermobile pushed off from the dock. They rocked as it slipped into the river currents. Tara held her infants close to her body until the movement slowed.

  After dressing the rambunctious babies in matching one-piece outfits, she put on a clean dress. A bell sounded, and she recognized the large man’s voice when he yelled that food was ready.

  A long table was set up in the open area at the front of the watermobile. Tara was his only passenger. There was a chair set at each end of the table and to her delight, two smaller chairs with straps were set on either side of one end of the table. Andru and Ana seemed to know they were getting fed when they didn’t complain about being stra
pped in. And if the large man noticed how they used the same hand when they reached for something on the table at the same time, he didn’t comment.

  The menu consisted of fried fish, new potatoes, and a leafy green vegetable on each plate. Tara hadn’t noticed how hungry she saw the food. The twins were equally enthusiastic about getting fed.

  “I don’t really have food for the babies.” Taffley sat at his end of the table. “I found some bread and squash. You can feed them that, if you want.”

  “Thank you.” She smashed the squash on two plates and tore bits of bread. Andru and Ana began snatching the bits of food the instant it was on their plates.

  The babies made a mess, and the man ate loudly. Tara didn’t mind either. The hot food gave her energy. She enjoyed every bite and willingly accepted a second helping of fish. The babies also ate well and contentedly sucked on bottles of juice after the meal was over. Tara sat back as the man lit several torches and cleared the table. The large wheel rotating under the ferry made a soft swooshing sound in the water. It was peaceful, and Tara began to relax for the first time since she’d left Gothman.

  Later, she sat on the edge of the bed rocking her two children until their bodies grew limp in her arms. She’d taken two of the drawers out of the dresser and filled them with blankets. Her babies looked beautiful as they lay asleep in their makeshift cradles. She admired them in the moonlight, and thought of how they looked like Darius.

  A noise on deck forced her to push him out of her thoughts. She reached for her laser and held it low as she walked down the hallway.

  Creaking boards told her someone was there. She stood very still using the shadows in the dark hallway to hide her position. Taffley was leaning over the front of the watermobile, holding a pole extended out over the water. She heard another creak coming from above the doorway. Whoever was there chose that moment to jump down onto the main floor with his back to her.

  The noise startled Taffley, who turned around as the intruder raised their weapon.

  Tara didn’t hesitate. She shot the intruder in the back. The sound of a yelp followed by a splash told Tara another, much less brave, attacker had been on board. Tara stepped out of the shadows.